THE Tory who defeated former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to take the Redditch seat said her experience as a Wrexham councillor had helped her to victory.

Karen Lumley romped home with 19,138 votes to just 13,317 for Labour’s Ms Smith – a swing in the Worcestershire seat of 9.2%

The delighted new MP told the Daily Post yesterday that she had “cut her political teeth” in North Wales, where her parents-in-law still live.

Asked if she had any inkling she would take one of the biggest scalps of the night, the 46-year-old mother-of-two said: “I was hoping it was going to go my way.

“My experience in North Wales has led me to be able to work closely with people with things like jobs and the economy.

“My time not just on Wrexham council but also as a Clwyd county councillor has been extremely valuable and I stood in my first Parliamentary election in Delyn.

“Wales is where I cut my political teeth and the Tory Party in Wales gave me the chance to get where I am today.”

Jacqui Smith refused to talk to journalists as she left the count fighting tears.

Ms Smith resigned as Home Secretary in 2009 after it emerged she had claimed expenses for pornographic films watched by her husband. Later she was criticised for designating her sister’s house in London as her “main home”.